Hazrat Mahdi (as) in the Risale-i Nur collection

The Sending of a Mujaddid (Reviver) at the Beginning of Every Century

Mujaddid : An innovator or reviver. An individual spoken of in trustworthy hadith, a great scholar and a successor to our Prophet (saas) sent at the beginning of every century to reveal the truths of the faith according to the needs of the time.

Imam al-Haqim among the Ashab of al-Kutub as-Sittah (Six Books), in the "Mustadrakh," and Abu Dawud in the "Kitab al-Sunan” and Bayhaqi in the "Suab alIman" narrate: "Almighty Allah sends a mujaddid of the faith every hundred years.”

(Barla Addendum, 119)

The Messenger of Allah (saas) imparts the tidings that a mujaddid (one who resuscitates or renews the faith) will be sent at the beginning of every century. A mujaddid must have been sent, as the hadith describes, in the year 1400 (Hijra calendar) (1979-1980), in other words at the beginning of the 14th century, when denial, prostitution, perversion and diversion from faith were all at a peak. According to the hadith and expositions by scholars, it is the Hazrat Mahdi (as) whom the Islamic world is expecting for 1400 years.

According to Abu Huraira's account, the Messenger of Allah (saas) said: Certainly Almighty and All-Powerful Allah will send an individual at the beginning of every century who will renew the faith and free it from subsequent accretions.

(Sunan Abu Dawud, 5/100)

At the beginning of every century a mujaddid will come from among the ulama of this community and will restore faith. Especially, after a thousand years have passed… Because when a thousand years have passed that is the time of the coming of a prophet of the highest rank in the communities of the past [ulul'azm].

(Letters of Rabbani, 1/520)

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi Was the Mujaddid of the 13th Century
(Hijri calendar) In a treatise, Hafis Tevfik of Damascus compared the lives of Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi and Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and said he had encountered the following four major areas of similarity:

First:Mawlana was born in 1193. Said Nursi, on the other hand, was born in 1293 (Arabic calendar). He came into the world exactly 100 years after Mawlana Khalid.

Second: Mawlana's struggle for the renewal of the faith began in 1224 in the Indian capital. Said Nursi, on the other hand, entered the capital of the Ottoman Empire in 1324, again a hundred years later, and began his spiritual renovation.

Third: The political establishment was alarmed at Mawlana’s popularity, and he was transferred to Damascus in 1238. Said Nursi, on the other hand, went to Ankara, 100 years later, in 1338. Unable to get on with the establishment there, he rejected them and went back to Van, seeking solitude on a mountain. The political establishment was concerned over him because of the Sheikh Said affair. Alarmed by this, he spent nine years in the provinces of Burdur and Isparta.

Fourth: Before he was 20 years old, Mawlana was regarded as superior to the ulama in learning and taught classes. Those who have seen and know the course of his life know that Said Nursi received his diploma at the age of 14 and entered into disputation with the ulama of the time, and taught students close to graduation.

To summarize: In agreement with the tidings in the hadith that Allah sends someone to revive the faith at the beginning of every century, Mawlana is the mujaddid (reviver) of the year 1200, in other words, of the 12th century. The Risale-i Nur served the same function 100 years later. In my opinion, the Risale-i Nur is one of the mujaddids of the faith.

(Barla Addendum 119-121)

It appears from the above accounts that Mawlana Khalid is the mujaddid of the 12th century and Bediuzzaman Said Nursi that of the 13th. Hazrat Mahdi (as) can be expected to appear around 1400 (Hijri calendar) as the mujaddid of the 14th century.

Bediuzzaman discussed Hazrat Mahdi (as) in detail and full clarity, as the mujaddid due to follow him and as a source of joy and excitement for the community of the faithful for 1400 years.

Hazrat Mahdi (as) Will Come in the 14th Century (Hijri calendar)

In the End Times, the true lords in the broad sphere of life, in other words Hazrat Mahdi (as) and his disciples, will come by Allah’s permission and will broaden that sphere and those seeds will bloom. And I shall watch from my tomb and give thanks to Allah.

A long time ago I heard from a holy man that that individual had learned the mysteries of the holy ones of old and had deduced that: “A light will appear from the East and will eliminate the oppression of novelties that have subsequently entered the faith.” I awaited the appearance of that light, and am still waiting. But flowers come in Spring. The ground has to be made ready for such holy blooms. And I understood that I am preparing the ground for that personage with my work.

(Confirmation Seal of the Unseen Universe, 189 Letters, 345)

I believe I am a servant of this wondrous person who will appear in the future, a rear-guard to set a background for him, and a pioneering soldier of that great commander.

(Barla Addendum, 162)

In the above extracts Bediuzzaman states that with his work he has prepared a proper climate for Hazrat Mahdi (as), and that when Hazrat Mahdi (as) comes he will already be dead and that he will watch the services performed by Hazrat Mahdi (as) from his grave.

Numerological information provided in the Risale-i Nur collection about the stages of Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) struggle and reign:

They desire to extinguish Allah’s Light with their mouths. But Allah refuses to do other than perfect His Light, even though unbelievers detest it. (Surat at-Tawba, 32)

Bediuzzaman says this about the words ... "Allah refuses to do other than perfect His light” in the verse:

It occurred to me now that if the 23rd and 24th letters (of the Arabic alphabet) are counted twice, those people who will eliminate cruelty from the face of the Earth will be the pupils of Hazrat Mahdi (as).

(Rays, 605)

A numerological analysis of this verse reveals the stages under which Islam will rule the world (1424 - Gregorian 2004) under the leadership of Hazrat Mahdi (as).

... But those who are unbelievers have false deities as protectors... (Surat al-Baqara, 257)

Bediuzzaman gives the date of the (numerological) collapse and destruction of the “false gods” (the intellectual system of denial) in this verse as 1417 (Gregorian 1995).

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi refers to “that personage who is truly awaited and will come a century later,” thus revealing that the Hazrat Mahdi (as) had not yet come and will come in the century following his own. Bediuzzaman lived in the 13th century. The century after his is the 14th. And that is when Hazrat Mahdi (as) will appear.

Thus, unfair people who do not know this truth say: “Why did the Companions of the Prophet with their vigilant hearts and keen sight, who had been taught all the details of the Hereafter, suppose a fact that would occur one thousand four hundred years later to be close to their century, as though their ideas had deviated a thousand years from the truth?”

(The Words, 318)

"A fact that would occur one thousand four hundred years later."

The reference here is to 1400 years, not 1373, nor 1378, nor 1398. In other words, the 14th century (Hijri calendar). The year 1400 (Hijri calendar) is the beginning of a century when the community of the faithful was leaderless, when prostitution had reached excessive levels, when unbelief was at a peak and when Muslims were suffering grave physical and spiritual losses. Since a mujaddid of the faith has been sent at the beginning of every century, a mujaddid must come when the community is disordered and eliminate that disorder, eradicate disbelief and cause Muslims to unite together. This person is Hazrat Mahdi (as), whom Muslims have been awaiting for 1400 years.

Bediuzzaman’s Damascus Sermon

In a sermon he preached to a congregation of ten thousand at the Amawi Mosque in Damascus in 1327 (Hijra), Bediuzzaman gave a description of the future awaiting the Islamic world after 1321, gave various dates regarding the End Times and noted the date of Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) struggle and when he would eventually be victorious.

Facts in the Sermon of Damascus addressing the flow of events in the Islamic world after 1371...

For sure, even if not now then in thirty to forty years’ time, in order to fit out and equip to perfection the three forces of science, true knowledge, and the virtues of civilization, and to rout and put to flight those eight obstacles, the desire to search for the truth, equity, and love of humanity will be dispatched to the eight fronts of those eight enemy squadrons. They have already started to drive them back. Allah willing, in half a century they will scatter them completely.

(The Damascus Sermon, 25)

For sure, even if not now then in thirty to forty years...

Insha’Allah, he will scatter the nine fronts of the foe half a century (50 years) later.